Carelessly speaking about mental health issues does a disservice to people who actually have them. It minimizes their pain, reinforced stereotypes, and perpetuates false information. People with mental illnesses can find it difficult to talk about because of the stigma they face, but it can be even harder when people believe common associated misconceptions.

On Monday, Youtuber Jessie Paege took to Twitter to set the record straight about what it's like to suffer from social anxiety. Social anxiety is a chronic mental health condition which causes people to feel irrational anxiety, fear, self-consciousness, and embarrassment as a result of social interactions. Many people with the disorder want to spend time with others, but have difficulty doing so. An estimated 15 million adults in the United States suffer from social anxiety, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

If you scroll through one of Paege's two Instagram accounts or watch one of her YouTube videos, you'll see tons of photos of herself smiling and goofing off. She's often pictured in different locations and photographed with friends. And, on her YouTube channel with nearly 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, she regularly talks to strangers about her life and does silly experiments.

Someone unfamiliar with the realities of social anxiety may think that this means she couldn't possibly struggle with social anxiety. Too often, the mental health disorder is conflated with being introverted or shy. But Paege wants people to know this is far from the truth.

"Social anxiety is not 'omggg I love netflix and I hate everyone,'" she wrote on Twitter. "It's longing to go to social situations that are easy for other people, wanting to use your voice, but feeling stifled, feeling trapped in your thoughts, and so much more."

social anxiety is not

“omggg I love netflix and I hate everyone”

it’s

- longing to go to social situations that are easy for other people- wanting to use your voice, but feeling stifled- feeling trapped in your thoughts

Paege's tweet has been retweeted over 71,000 times and has nearly 240,000 likes. Many people were inspired to share their own experiences with social anxiety and clear up other common misconceptions associated with the disorder.

social anxiety in media: "I'm just so painfully shy, it's adorable"actual people with social anxiety: "I can't really enjoy myself in this social situation because I am literally terrified of monopolizing the conversation or saying the wrong thing" https://t.co/wzjc5LA8yi

-not being able to stop obsessing over how people see you-obsessing over your appearance and behavior-kicking yourself for anything you say/do that didn’t go over well-doing anything in your power to not appear inferior to others https://t.co/bgzArrDfrv

Anxiety is staying up till four in the morning thinking about how situations could have differed, had you just changed one thing. Anxiety is falling down the rabbit hole of endless "what ifs" and scenarios for all the bad things that *could* happen.

Anxiety is struggling to catch your breath while you try to assess every little thing "accordingly." Anxiety is nail-biting, hair-pulling, continuous chills & so much more while you try to figure out what the hell you're going to do. There's no band-aid to make it better.----

It doesn't just go away, and when I hear people tell me or another anxiety sufferer to "stop being anxious," it makes me livid. You almost find yourself apologizing for the things you can't control, and that's not okay. It's OKAY to not be okay.